Okay Caps fans, because I'm so brilliant (not!) and have won so many hockey games (not!), here's another stab at it.
Coach Bruce Boudreau once likened coaching to parenting. You try to give them all the tools, but then they've got to do it themselves. And they're not going to do it until they're good and ready. And like the poor Arlington, Virginia, 3-year old who was kicked out of preschool because she wasn't fully potty trained, the Caps will keep losing until they're ready to win.
I'll call her Little Suzy, because I don't know her name. (It was probably withheld so that this unfortunate episode doesn't keep her from being admitted to Harvard someday.) Usually Little Suzy can tell that she has to go potty, but she needs the muscular coordination to hold it in, the will to stop digging that hole in the sandbox, the poise to approach her teacher and say "I need to go potty," the courage to climb onto the step-stool, the dedication to pull down her pants, the will to sit down on that icy cold seat...
No, I'm NOT belittling Little Suzy or the Caps. Not at all. I'm counseling patience. Not easy for us Washington-area type-A fans. We want the Stanley Cup now!
"Sidney got it; why can't I have it too?"
Patience! Defense is good. Offense is good. Having the control and the wherewithal to utilize them both at the appropriate times, having them both clicking at the same time is really good. Sure as Suzy will some day be potty trained, the Caps will be able to put these pieces together.
But they have to really want to win. They have to be desperate to win. Could it be that they're just not developmentally ready?
Yes,they need the tools and they need the discipline - they also need the experience to take those, in a poised way, into a tough game situation and employ them at will. Hopefully this period of pain is giving them some practice in that regard.
But then they have to grasp that stick and hop out onto the ice. They have to muscle that opponent, command that puck, wrench the game out of the other guys' hands. They have to will themselves to see, to take advantage, to improvise and, ultimately, to control the action.
That's the magic part. It's when, all of a sudden, Little Suzy can go all by herself!
That's when the Caps begin to choreograph - creating a dance with puck as partner. It's not enough to wait for her, to hope for her, to dream of her like a lovesick schoolboy. But like a jealous lover you must control where she goes, who she's with. You must command her, control her and then send her smashing into the net
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